Send Out Your
Spirit:
A Conformation
Candidate’s Handbook for Faith (Study Guide)
Chapter
I: Belonging
1.
Q: What is a Catechumen?
A: Someone who receives instruction in the Christian
faith.
2.
Q: What are the two sacraments of Christian initiation?
A: Baptism and Confirmation.
3.
Q: What are the principal effects of baptism?
A: The effects are six fold: (1) Impression of a
character on the soul (indelible mark on the soul), (2) the remission
(forgiveness) of all sin (original and actual), (3) remission of temporal
punishment (punishment in purgatory), (4) infusion of supernatural grace,
gifts, and virtues, (5) conferral of the right to special graces, and (6)
incorporation into the Mystical (spiritual) Body of Christ.
4.
Q: What are the three kinds of baptism?
A: (1) Water Baptism, (2) Baptism of Blood (dying for
the faith), and (3) Baptism of Desire (one who desires water baptism, but dies
prior to receiving the actual sacrament itself). Both Baptism of Blood and
Desire have the same effects as water baptism.
5.
Q: What is a covenant?
A: A sacred and unbreakable agreement between God and
men.
6.
Q: How did the Israelites in the Old Testament enter into
God’s covenant?
A: Through circumcision (i.e., a medical procedure
which entails cutting off the foreskin of infants on the eighth day after they
are born).
7.
Q: How do people enter into the New Covenant?
A: Through baptism (1 Peter 3:21).
8.
Q: What are the principal effects of Confirmation?
A: The effects are fourfold: (1) Confirmation imparts
an increase of sanctifying grace which makes the recipient a "perfect
Christian"; (2) a special sacramental grace consisting in the seven gifts
of the Holy Ghost, (3) an indelible mark on your soul, (4) makes you a formal
member of the institutional (visible/corporeal) Church.
Chapter
II: God
1.
Q: What is the primary difference between Monotheism
and Polytheism?
A: Monotheism teaches that there is only one God,
while Polytheism holds a plurality of “gods.”
2.
Q: What are the attributes of God?
A: Omniscience (all-knowing), Omnipotence
(all-powerful), Omnipresence (everywhere present), Omnibenevolence (all-good),
eternality, infinitude, immutability (unchanging), etc.
3.
Q: Is God simple or complex?
A: God is absolutely simple in His nature/essence.
4.
Q: What arguments does St. Thomas offer for the
existence of God?
A: St. Thomas offers several, but lists 5 primary
arguments: (1) Argument from Motion (change), (2) Argument from Causation, (3)
Argument from Contingency, (4) Argument from Degree, (5) Argument from Design
(final ends).
5.
Q: What is the Trinity?
A: The Christian doctrine which teaches that God subsists
in three Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) that share the same divine
nature/essence
6.
Q: How are the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity
distinguished?
A: They are distinguished by their relations. The Son
is distinguished from the Father because he generated by the Father. The Holy
Spirit is distinguished from both the Father and the Son by proceeding from
both as from one principle/source.
7.
Q: How many wills are there in God?
A: There is only one will in God.
Chapter
III: Jesus Christ
1.
Q: Who is Jesus Christ?
A: Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, in the
sense that He died for the sins of mankind.
2.
Q: What is the Incarnation?
A: The Son of God (the second Person of the Trinity)
assumed (i.e., took upon Himself) human nature.
3.
Q: What is the Paschal Mystery?
A: The Passion (sufferings), death, and resurrection
of Jesus.
4.
Q: How many natures does Jesus possess?
A: Jesus possesses two natures: divine and human
natures. (See the Council of Chalcedon).
5.
Q: How many wills does Jesus possess?
A: Jesus possesses TWO wills, a divine and human
will. The will is the product of nature, not personhood. (See the Third Council
of Constantinople).
6.
Q: Is Jesus a divine or human person?
A: Jesus is a Divine Person, not a human person.
7.
Q: What does the term “Christ” mean?
A: In both Hebrew (mashiach) and Greek (Christos) the
term means “anointed.” The title refers to the “promised one” foretold in
Genesis 3:15 and elsewhere in the Old Testament.
8.
Q: What age did Jesus begin His ministry?
A: Jesus began His ministry at 30 years of age (Lk
3:23).
9.
Q: How many disciples did Jesus have?
A: Besides the 12 primary disciples, Jesus also had an
additional 70 (or 72 depending on the manuscript) who followed him (Lk 10:1).
Chapter
IV: Scripture & Tradition
1.
Q: What is divine revelation?
A: Divine Revelation is God’s communication of
knowledge of himself to mankind.
2.
Q: What are the kinds of Revelation?
A: There are two kinds of divine revelation: General
& Special Revelation. General Revelation is God’s revelation of Himself
through the created world, while Special Revelation is directly revealed (either
for an audience or an individual). Public Special Revelation includes both
Scripture and Tradition.
3.
Q: What is Scripture?
A: From the Greek “graphe,” Scripture simply means
“writing(s),” but more specifically writings which are inspired by the Holy
Spirit (the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity).
* Holy Scripture
is the Word of God written down.
4.
Q: What is Apostolic Tradition?
A: St. Paul writes, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast;
and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by letter.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:15).
* Holy Tradition
is the Word of God handed down orally.
5.
Q: What is inspiration?
A: St. Peter writes, "For prophecy came not by
the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the
Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:21). The Encyclical Providentissimus Deus
states: “God stirred up and impelled the
sacred writers to determine to write all that God meant them to write.”
6.
Q: What is the plenary inerrancy of Scripture?
A: The term “plenary” means whole. The term
“inerrancy” means the inability to err. Scripture is inerrant not only in
matters of faith and morals but also in its historical and scientific claims.
(See Lamentabili Sane 11; Providentissimus Deus 20-21; Spiritus Paraclitus
21-22)
7.
Q: Total number of books in the Bible (gk. Biblios,
book)?
A: 73 books total (46 in the OT / 27 in the NT)
8.
Q: Division of the New Testament
A: 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), Acts of the
Apostles, 14 Pauline Epistles, 7 Catholic Epistles, and the Book of Revelation.
9.
Q: Number of books in the Torah/Pentateuch? List
them.
A: 5 books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy)
10.
Q: What does the term “canon” mean? And what does it
refer to?
A: In Greek, the term means standard, rod, etc. It
refers to the books of the bible which are accepted by the Church.
11.
Q: What is the Septuagint, and what does it mean?
A: The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew
Old Testament. The term itself literally means, seventy. It refers to the 70 Jewish
scholars who supposedly translated the Hebrew Torah. Later, the Septuagint came
to refer to the entire translate canon of the OT, and not merely the Torah.
Chapter
V: Church
1.
Q: What is the Church?
A: In Greek “ecclesia,” the term means assembly/congregation.
It is an assembly of people that gather for the purpose of worshiping God.
2.
Q: What are the four marks of the Church?
A: (1) Unity (one), (2) Sanctity (holy), (3)
Universality (Catholic), and (4) Apostolic (the bishops in communion with Rome
both teach the doctrines of the apostles, and also are the successors of the
apostles themselves).
3.
Q: What is the Magisterium?
A: Teaching
organ of the church.
4.
Q: Levels of the Magisteirum?
A: There are three levels: (1) Ordinary Magisterium,
(2) Ordinary and Universal Magisteirum, and (3) Extraordinary Magisterium.
(1)
Ordinary
Magisterium: Any bishop can exercise the ordinary magisterium. This level of
the magisterium is fallible (i.e., capable of error).
(2)
Universal
Magisterium: All the Bishops in communion with the Pope holding/teaching the
same doctrine is considered infallible (i.e., not subject to error).
(3)
Extraordinary
Magisterium: There are two modes of the Extraordinary Magisterium, one in which
a general/ecumenical council pronounces a specific teaching that all Christians
are bound to believe. The other, in which the Pope alone (who is the head of
the church), binds all Christian to believe a specific doctrine. This is known
as an “ex cathedra” pronouncement (lit. from the chair). Both modes of teaching
are infallible.
5.
Q: Roles of the Church?
A: The Church plays many roles. Here are five of
them:
(1)
Body of Christ
(Rom 12:4-5; 1 Cor 12:12-31; Eph 1:22; 4:15-16; Col 1:18, 24)
(2)
Bride of Christ
(Jn 3:29; Eph 5:23).
(3)
Mother of all
the faithful (follows logically from being the bride) (Jn 19:27; Gal 4:26; Rev
21:9)
(4)
Ark of Salvation
(Gen 6:15-17; 1 Peter 3:21)
(5)
Tabernacle/Temple
(Jn 1:14; 2:19; 14:1)
6.
Q: Is the church invisible or visible?
A: The church is visible and invisible; corporeal and
incorporeal. There is a mystical (spiritual) aspect to it, but also a corporeal
aspect to it as well. The church is the body and bride of Christ. Just as Eve
came forth from the side of Adam (Gen 2:21-24), the New Eve (i.e., the church)
proceeds from the side of the New Adam (cf. John 19:34). Since the church is
both bride and body of Christ, She shares a substantial unity (both spiritual
and physical) with the bridegroom. Since Christ possessed a visible body, the
bride must likewise be visible (otherwise we wouldn’t be able to identify Her).
We should be able to point to the bride of Christ, just as we would have been
able to point to the historical Eve.
7.
Q: How is the Church structured?
A: The church is hierarchical: Bishops, priests, and
deacons.
8.
Q: Is there salvation outside of the Church?
A: No, there is no salvation outside of the church.
There is some debate concerning whether one who dies “invincibly ignorant” of
the faith is saved, but the traditional teaching has been that one must die as
a Catholic to be saved.
Chapter
VI: Morality
1.
Q: What is the Natural Law?
A: Natural law is a generic concept encompassing
anything in the objective moral order that is knowable by reason or natural intuition
without recourse to some positive law, human or divine. Anything that is a
violation of the objective moral order is "against natural law,"
i.e., contradicting the law that can be known through nature, without any human
law or custom or special divine revelation prescribing it for us.
2.
Q: What is natural?
A: Those activities/operations which are congruent
with a thing’s nature/essence.
3.
Q: Can the Ten Commandments be known by reason alone?
A: Yes, the Ten Commandments are things which can be known
by reason alone.
4.
Q: What are the 2 New Commandments?
A: (1) Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (2) Thou shall love thy
neighbor as thyself.
Chapter
VIII: Liturgy and Sacraments
1.
Q: What is the Liturgy?
A: From the Greek “leitourgia,” meaning the public
worship of God.
2.
Q: What is the Mass?
A: From the Latin “missa,” which refers to the historical
practice of dismissing catechumens before the celebration of the Eucharist. As
Catholics we believe the Mass is primarily a sacrifice, the self-same sacrifice
on Calvary, presented under the forms of the bread and wine.
3.
Q: What is a Rite?
A: The manner in which a ritual is celebrated.
4.
Q: What is transubstantiation?
A: The belief that the substance of bread and wine
changes into the body and blood of Christ. God maintains the “accidents” of
bread and wine (such as taste and color) by His divine power.
5.
Q: What are sacraments?
A: From the Latin “sacramentum” and the Greek “mysterion”
(mystery), meaning an outward sign with an inward grace.
6.
Q: What are the 7 sacraments?
A: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Holy
Orders, Holy Matrimony, and Extreme Unction (anointing of the sick).
Chapter IX:
Holy Spirit and Confirmation
1.
Q: Who is the Holy Spirit?
A: The Third Person of the Blessed Trinity.
2.
Q: What does the term Paraclete mean, and who does it
refer to?
A: The Greek term “Paraclete,” meaning
advocate/consoler, it refers to the Holy Spirit Himself.
3.
Q: What is Pentecost?
A: From the Greek Pentēkostē, meaning fifty. It
refers to the 50th day after Jesus’ resurrection, when the Holy
Spirit came upon the apostles in the upper room.
4.
Q: What is grace?
A: From the Greek “charis,” meaning gift. There are
many kinds of graces (e.g. Sanctifying Grace, Habitual Grace,
Actual grace, and Sacramental graces).
5.
Q: What is sanctifying grace?
A: A special grace (gift/energy) which helps
Christians live a holy life.
